New Delhi, Oct. 4: Echoing the Congress manifesto and addressing a concern of the Left, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today ruled out an ?uncritical endorsement of the hire-and-fire approach? while stressing the need for flexibility in labour markets.

?One cannot talk of an uncritical endorsement of the hire-and-fire approach, more so since the institutions of social security, particularly unemployment insurance, are not well developed in this country, even though there is need for increased flexibility in the labour markets,? the Prime Minister told a meeting where workers were honoured with awards.

?Our government is committed to reforms with a human face. Structural reforms in a democracy to be durable must involve consultation with all stakeholders particularly the workers and trade unions,? he said.

When Singh was finance minister in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government, it had tried to push through labour reforms, including an amendment to the Industrial Disputes Act that would have facilitated an easy hire-and-fire system.

But, over the years, the Congress has toned down its stand. In the manifesto for the last Lok Sabha polls, the party had made it clear that controversial policies such as hire-and-fire would not be pursued and that the stress would be on consultations and consensus.

In his speech, the Prime Minister tried to allay fears of returning to unbridled liberalisation. The United Progressive Alliance government, he said, is focusing on a food-for-work programme, a job-intensive growth, upgrading workers? skills and widening the access of education.

The government is also working on a law to implement the National Employment Guarantee Scheme that will reverse the past trend of a jobless growth, Singh said.

He assured workers that their interests would be kept in mind as the government kept up the pace of liberalisation. ?The time has come to add rozgar badhao to the slogan of garibi hatao,? he said.

Left parties and trade unions are apprehensive of any move to rationalise labour laws because they believe it would lead to amendments that will ease a system of hire and fire. This was one of the issues discussed at length while laying down the common minimum programme.

The Prime Minister made it clear that the Congress would have to put checks and balances in its reforms programme to keep in mind the interest of the poor and the underprivileged.